Embedded Files
ARTIST STATEMENT/BIO
“Chris McMahon started drawing weird monsters and various comic book characters when he was just a kid. He then went to the University of Iowa, branching out into painting and sculpture, taking his skills to another level. Eventually, McMahon wound up teaching high school art. Throughout all of this, however, his admiration for weird, whimsical creatures never faded. But over time, McMahon has come up with so many beings, his imagination can't house all of them. So, the man started browsing secondhands for paintings where they could relocate to. After he spots a suitable piece, McMahon buys it and adds his monsters to it. The end result is so good, one even became a Weezer album cover...”
-BoingBoing
"...which depicts a giant monster whose sharp teeth suggests that it might not be the cuddliest of beasts…”
-Spin Magazine
“...Chris McMahon, who paints goofy monsters over thrift store paintings, wryly echoing Mike Kelley’s dark take on suburban America’s treasures and the eerie landscapes of cult video game Shadow of the Colossus...”
-The Guardian
“The immediate success gave McMahon plenty of impetus to stick with the motif. To set such sympathetic scenes, McMahon fills the voids of each secondhand painting with just the right monster. (If you’ve got a spare landscape cluttering up the garage, you can commission your own via his Voluntary Involuntary Collaboration Program.) So painting monsters comes secondary to finding just the right landscape painting. But that actually started as an exercise in just sourcing cheap used canvases which he could then paint over wholesale. Soon enough though, monsters began occupying those lands. ‘They’re only scary because they’re huge and don’t fit into a society filled with tiny humans,’ McMahon tells SYFY WIRE about his monsters. ‘Godzilla doesn’t want any trouble, but he can’t help the fact that he doesn’t live the way people do. He doesn’t speak their language.’”
-SYFY
Chris is a member of the West Liberty Area Arts Council board, and from its opening in June 2021 until mid-March 2023, served in a paid position as the gallery associate for Brick Street Gallery, changing out shows and rearranging "Tetris- style" art in the gallery and serving as "shopkeeper".
ON DISPLAY
"The Waiting Dark"
Framed Print
CWM-088
$80
"The Pheasants"
Oil
CWM-056
$500.00
Mugs sold exclusively at Brick Street Gallery:
"Hiding in the Flowers"
Mug
CWM-047.1-.2
$30.00
"The Mountain Monster"
Mug
CWM-078
$30.00
"The Red Dragon"
Mug
CWM-080
$30
"The Cat Came Back the very Next Day - Dedicated to Holly"
Mug
CWM-093
$30
"The Shivery Calm"
Mug
CWM-094
$30
PRINTS:
“Someone Check on the Cows”
Print (2)
CWM-006
$40
“The Dark Smooch Rises”
Print (2)
CWM-007
$40
“The Howling"
CWM-012
$40
“It Sleeps Outside”
CWM-013
$40
“The Shivery Calm”
CWM-015
$40
“Did Somebody Say ‘Release the Kraken’?”
Print (3)
CWM-016
$40
“Coming Down is the Hardest Thing”
Print (2)
CWM-023
$40
"Bearshark"
CWM-040
$40.00
"Behold The Majesty of the Juvenile Squatchicorn in Autumn"
CWM-041
$40.00
"Der Schrei"
Print (2)
CWM-073
$40.00
"Wading Through the Creek"
Print (2)
CWM-083
$40.00 (1 SOLD)
"The Red Dragon"
Print (2)
CWM-089
$40.00
GALLERY HISTORY
“The Mill III”
CWM-005
$40
“Hiding in the Flowers”
CWM-011
$40
“The Yellow House”
CWM-014
$40
“A North Atlantic Hydrobeest Frolics in the Waves”
CWM-017
$40 (SOLD)
“The Furry Gray Apples are Surprisingly Delicious”
Print
CWM-018
$40
“Smooch Smooch for Smooches”
CWM-019
$40
“The Dragoncow Guards her Nest”
CWM-020
$40
“No”
CWM-022
$40
“Happy Little Trees”
CWM-024
$40
"When Startled..."
CWM-046
$40.00
"The Waiting Dark"
CWM-064
$40
"The Mountain Monster"
CWM-070
$40
"The Snowstorm"
"The Snowstorm"
CWM-071
$40
"They Return in Winter"
CWM-072
$40.00
"Cephalodog"
CWM-074
$40.00
"Hide and Seek"
CWM-076
$40.00
"Der Schrei"
as mug
CWM-075
$25
"Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-BAT-THING!"
CWM-090
$40.00 (SOLD)
"The Pheasants"
Coffee Mug - Large
CWM-042
CWM-082
$25.00
"The Dark Smooch Rises"
Coffee Mug - Large
CWM-043
CWM-077
$25.00
"The Furry Gray Apples are Delicious"
Coffee Mug
CWM-044.1-.2
$25.00
"It Sleeps Outside"
Coffee Mug
CWM-045.1-.3
$25.00
"Hiding in the Flowers"
Coffee Mug
CWM-047.1-.2
$25.00
"No."
Coffee Mug - Large
CWM-048
$25.00
“…Who’s There?”
CWM-021
$40
"Thin Ice"
Coffee Mug - Large
CWM-049
$25.00
"The Mountain Monster"
Coffee Mug - Large
CWM-078
$25.00
"Who's There?"
Coffee Mug - Large
CWM-079
$25.00
"The Red Dragon"
Large Mug
CWM-080
$25 (SOLD)
"Frozen in Awe of my Knowledge of Forever"
CWM-092
(SOLD) $40.00
"The Pheasants"
CWM-027.1
$40.00
"Smooch Vignette"
CWM-028
$40.00
ORIGINALS
“Elation”
Acrylic on canvas panel
CWM-001
$200
“Untitled Portrait of Woman with Blue Eyes”
Acrylic on CanvasPanel
CWM-002
$250
“Gremlin”
Acrylic on canvas panel
CWM-003
$150
“Rudy”
By Christopher McMahon
Acrylic on canvas panel
CWM-004
$200
"Balloonicorn"
Ceramic
CWM-008
$40.00 (SOLD)
“These is fer you, Miss”
Acrylic on Thrift Store Painting
CWM-10
$50 (SOLD)
“Cephalodog”
Oil on Canvas Panel
CWM-025
$350
"Gnomegoyle"
Ceramic
CWM-026
$35.00 (SOLD)
"The Pheasants"
CWM-027.2
$40.00 (SOLD)
“Billy Redux”
Acrylic on canvas
CWM-030
NFS
“The Mountain Monster”
Canvas Print
CWM-031
NFS
"Lovecraftian Box"
Ceramic
CWM-032
NFS
"The Mill II"
Acrylic, Found Art
CWM-033
$125.00
"Untitled Portrait of Woman with Blue Eyes"
Colored Pencil
CWM-036
$35.00 (SOLD)
"Catwoman"
Water Color
CWM-037
$25.00 (SOLD)
"The Knowby Cabin"
Water Color
CWM-038
$45.00
"Skelefish"
Colored Pencil
CWM-039
$20.00 (SOLD)
"Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BAT- THING!"
Oil
CWM-053
NFS
"Der Schrei"
Oil
CWM-054
$350.00
"The Lighthouse"
Oil
CWM-055
$225.00
“The Snowstorm”
Oil on Thrift Store Landscape
CWM-057
$350 (SOLD)
"There's Something Wrong with the Deer"
Oil
CWM-058
$50.00
"There's Something Very, Very Wrong with the Deer"
Oil
CWM-059
$50.00
"Wasen Kaiju"
Oil
CWM-060
$250.00
"The Maw"
Acrylic
CWM-061
$125.00
"Voracious Melancholia"
Acrylic
CWM-062
$150.00
"Maybe Just One More"
Acrylic
CWM-063
$125.00
"Listen Here You"
Acrylic
CWM-065
$125.00
"Suspicion"
Acrylic
CWM-066
$125.00
"Right Where it Belongs"
Oil
CWM-067
$600.00
"Chrrriup"
Acrylic
CWM-068
NFS
"Untitled Portrait of Woman with Black Hair"
Oil on Canvas Panel
CWM-069
$200
"Wading Through the Creek"
Oil on Thrift Store Landscape
CWM-084
$300
"Hunting Grounds of the South Pacific Triwhal"
Oil on Thrift Store Print
CWM-085
$200.00
"Heliotropic Forb"
Oil
CWM-086
$100 (SOLD)
"Astral Planar Projection of a Cowboy Boot"
Acrylic
CWM-087
$60 (SOLD)
“Thin Ice”
CWM-009
$40 (SOLD)
"This Means Something"
CWM-050
$40.00 (SOLD)
"Rain is Coming"
CWM-091
$40.00 (SOLD)
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